Aylesworth Perry
| Aylesworth Bowen Perry | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | August 21, 1860 Violet, near Napanee, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | February 14, 1956 (aged 95) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Allegiance | Canada |
| Service/branch | North-West Mounted Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police |
| Years of service | 1882-1923 |
| Rank | Commissioner; Major-General |
| Commands held | =Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police |
| Awards | Order of St. Michael and St. George Honorary Aide-de-camp |
Aylesworth Bowen Perry, C.M.G. (August 21, 1860 – February 14, 1956) served as the sixth Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, from August 1, 1900, to March 31, 1923.
Aylesworth Perry was born at Violet, near Napanee, Ontario, on August 21, 1860. His father William Perry was a Justice of the Peace, deputy-reeve, and member of the Lennox and Addington County Council. William Perry operated a flour mill and sawmill on Mill Creek in Violet and approximately half of his acres was under cultivation. William Perry married Eleanor Fraser in 1848. Eleanor Fraser was the daughter of Isaac Fraser, a magistrate, a militia colonel, and a onetime member of the Legislative Council. He attended highschool in Napanee in 1876. He was educated as part of the first class at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, student #13, one of the “Old Eighteen.” Since cadets received their numbers based on their standings in the entrance examinations, he was 13 of 18. At fifteen, he was one of the youngest students at RMC. He graduated at the top of his class receiving the Governor-General’s gold and silver medals. He received a commission and was gazetted as a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers of the Imperial British Army. A serious accident prevented him from attending the convocation ceremonies. The Commandant of Royal Military College of Canada secured a six-month healing period before Perry reported to the Royal Engineers in England.
He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. When the Royal Engineer's medical staff determined that Perry's leg was not yet properly healed, his commanding officer advised him to return to Canada. He subsequently resigned his commission. He worked as a surveyor in what is now northern Ontario. From 1881 to 1882 Perry worked with the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, as a librarian.
On January 24, 1882, he was appointed an inspector in the North-West Mounted Police. During the North-West Rebellion of 1885, he was appointed a major in the Canadian Militia, and received command of the second section of the Alberta Field Force. He led a march from Calgary, Alberta, to Edmonton, Alberta. While crossing the Red Deer River, he nearly died landing a tow rope attached to the raft carrying a field gun. Following the rebellion, he was appointed superintendent of the Prince Albert district, on August 1, 1885. Since game was disappearing and the incoming of the railways was rendering useless the occupation of freighting on the prairie he recommended that the Métis earn a living through farming, "The mass of the half-breed population must therefore turn their attention to other methods of making a living. They have no alternative: farming must become their occupation in earnest. The English and Scotch half-breeds have already done this successfully; but very few of French descent have yet made any real attempt at it." Perry continued, "As farming is the inevitable pursuit of the French half-breeds, all who are friendly to them should agree in urging and encouraging them to remain on their present holdings, so that they may at once face their destiny and ultimately obtain the position of a self-supporting people. They should be treated with patience and aided generously, remembering that it is not easy for white men possessing all the advantages of education and civilization to change their occupation. Can the half-breed hunter or freighter be expected to be more apt in adapting himself to change? It would be an astonishing thing if they quietly and quickly adapted themselves to the work of a farm on which success is only obtained by hard, patient and continuous labour." He concluded, "There is a tendency on the part of some to regard the problem of the future of these people as insolvable. Knowing their many sterling qualities I cannot despair, but believe their descendants will be prosperous and desirable citizens of our North-West Territory." As Superintendent, in command of the Prince Albert district in 1888, he praised the work of the missionaries amongst the Indians, "The hope of improvement in the Indian lies in the training of the rising generation, and it is to be hoped that before long the children will be taken in hand."
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